EC can freeze Congress symbol or initiate action if party remains leaderless

The spectre of the Congress being suspended or disqualified looms large, unless it can provide a satisfactory explanation to the Election Commission as to why it has not been able to elect a permanent president following Rahul Gandhi’s resignation last year. Sonia Gandhi was installed as the interim president by the Congress Working Committee and on Monday would complete one year in office. The party has been maintaining that the process of electing a new chief has been deferred on account of the Covid-19 pandemic, and it shall comply with the provisions of the EC as soon as a semblance of normalcy was restored.

Normally, the Election Commission is soft on internal party issues, but if it chooses to, it can take overriding action against any political party that has not observed the laid down norms. The measures can include freezing the election symbol under the Symbol Order, which is an Executive decision, deployed so far only once, while dealing with the regional party headed by former Lok Sabha Speaker, P.A. Sangma.

The political parties are governed by Section 29 (A), sub clause (V) of the Representation of People’s Act, which was introduced in 1989 to bring them under its ambit. Every party, including the Congress, had to re-register itself, after furnishing an undertaking that it owed allegiance to the Constitution of India and would also go in for periodic elections. While there is no rule that stipulates the procedure for ensuring compliance, there is nothing that prevents the Commission, at any stage, from taking a call on the matter, if and when, it deems appropriate. To begin with, the EC would examine if the INC Constitution has a specific provision regarding the election of a new president within a specified period after the incumbent vacates the post. It can order the party to hold the internal elections within